Snapshot Of Industry-Wide Trends in Employment, 1991-2001

Only a handful of sectors have shown an increase in their demand for labour, amongst others, Leather Products, Plastic Products, Wood and Wood Products, Wholesale and Retail Trade, Printing and Publishing, Medical Services, Basic Chemicals and Other Chemicals and Television and Communications Equipment producers (Table 17). In terms of labour demand, these industries are also relatively new on the scene, judging from the positions they held during the 1991-1996 period. However, with the exception of the Wholesale and Retail Trade sector, none of these industries have a large weight in the total demand for labour, as can be attested by the second last column of the table. On the contrary, labour shedding has been the trend in the relatively large sectors such as Gold Mining, Agriculture, and General Government, and this has obliterated whatever little gains in labour demand that have been recorded anywhere.